Man Left Stranded After All His Money Was Stolen From His Account In Few Minutes After Union Bank Seized His ATM Card

An unauthorised removal of N182,500 from Atanda Samson’s Union Bank account number on October 26 has plunged him under pressure from his client who paid the money for a contract.

According to FIJ, in need of some cash, Samson left his Agege residence in Lagos State to the bank’s automated teller machine (ATM) gallery on Iyana Ipaja road to carry out a transaction in October.

At the gallery, he inserted his card into the machine but it was unable to dispense the N20,000 he had requested. Strangely, the machine asked him to type his password twice and he did so both times.

Instead of dispensing the cash, the machine withheld Samson’s card. The customer waited for some minutes, hoping the card would be ejected. However, his wait was fruitless.
The security guard at the branch said he could not help.

“On October 26, I operated my bank’s ATM at Iyana Ipaja to withdraw N20,000 with my Union Bank card, but the machine failed to dispense cash. It requested twice that I re-enter my PIN, which I actually did. The time was a few minutes after 4 pm and the machine suddenly returned to a standby. It was then that I stepped back to call a security man not far from me to come and help me to look at it,” Samson told FIJ.

“The security man and another man on the other ATM advised me to come back on Monday as my ATM card was already hooked inside the machine.”

Samson still tarried at the machine, hoping the card would come out. While waiting, a man Samson confirmed to be an employee of the bank emerged from the banking hall and used the same machine. Another customer then followed. Both of them successfully used the machine.

“I then waited to see another person to use the same machine. Two people did it in my presence. The first person happened to come from the back office of the bank and they collected some cash. It was then I saw that new N200 notes were inside the ATM,” Samson said.

“Before I left, I asked the security man if he could help me talk to the man who came from the bank’s office to assist me with my ATM card but he told me that the man was not working at the ATM section, and confirmed him to be a staff.”

On Samson’s way home, a single debit of N182,500 occurred on his bank account, which he did not authorise.
“While going back home, I suddenly received an alert for a transfer of N182,500 from my account. That was the whole amount in my account,” he said.

“When I showed up at the bank on Monday, October 28, I was told that my ATM card was not inside the machine. Truly, I am not satisfied with the explanation given by the bank.”

Having filed a complaint at that branch without any helpful response, Samson does not believe that the bank’s hands are clean from the illegal transaction. He cited his reasons in a letter emailed to the bank’s headquarters.

He said, “I am not a banker, but I do not think it is possible that an ATM would release a locked ATM card after the machine has come to a standby, especially when two other customers have used the same machine.

“The transfer of N182,500 alert reached me under 10 minutes after I operated the machine. I do not believe that an outsider can do that on an ATM card within very few minutes, except the person knows my PIN.

“I was even being told the transaction was not recorded on their system, but well, probably it was deleted because I have the alert on my small phone as well as my Union Bank mobile app and I wonder why they would tell me that even the N20,000 withdrawal attempts were not recorded.”

“I just need the bank to help retrieve my money which is meant for a contract I recently collected. I am now under pressure to deliver the job but the money has been stolen.”

The transaction’s narration, according to the debit alert, indicated a certain business name called ‘CEDETITO VENTURES’, a business entity Samson suspects to be a point of sale (PoS) terminal operator.

Further checks showed that the venture was registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission with business number 7535016 on May 30.

Curiously, the registered address of CEDETITO VENTURES is at Abeokuta Expressway in Iyana Ipaja, the same area the bank is located, according to b2bhint, an online business data aggregator.

“Someone affiliated with the bank could have removed my card after I had left and made use of it to steal my money via the PoS terminal,” Samson told FIJ.

His formal complaint emailed to the bank on October 29 had not yielded any positive outcome.

When reached for comments on Wednesday, Favour Bukola Ayeni, the lead external communications at the Corporate Communications and Marketing Department of Union Bank, said she would look into the complaint.

“This is to acknowledge the receipt of your email. We will look into it and revert,” Ayeni wrote in her response to FIJ’s emailed request.